Kirk News Headlines
This Sunday, September 5, is the final Summer Garden Service of the season. Don't miss this opportunity to worship outdoors before we kick off our fall season!
Kirk offices will be closed on Monday, September 6 in observance of the Labor Day Holiday. Regular business hours (Monday-Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.) will resume on Tuesday, September 7.
A special expanded edition of the September Kirk News will be mailed to members and includes information about new service times and expanded Sunday School options, all beginning on Sunday, September 12!
Our Summer Carillon Series concludes this Sunday, September 5 with recitals at 10:00 a.m. and noon by Kirk Carillonneur, Dennis Curry.
Kirk in the Hills is situated on a 40-acre setting on Island Lake. It is of Gothic design and is patterned after the once-famous Melrose Abbey in Scotland that was built in the 13th century.
Gothic design was dominant for 400 years in Europe. Sculpture and stained glass were used to create a theological storytelling of the coming of Christ to earth. Characteristics of Gothic architecture include vertical lines, flying buttresses, pointed arches, lightness and soaring spaces. Gothic churches are laid out in the shape of a cross. The exterior usually has twin towers crowning the facade. Gothic design emphasizes the relationship between heaven and earth with everything pointed upward toward God.
The sanctuary is situated at the east end of Cedarholm, which was the home of Colonel Edwin S. George, whose gift of his home and estate in 1947 made the Kirk possible. As early as 1933 he saw the need for a church in this area and established the George Foundation for that purpose. The congregation was organized by the Presbytery of Detroit in 1947, and the first services were held that year in Cedarholm Chapel. The corner-stone for the church was laid in 1951, the same year Colonel George died. His remains are entombed under the Narthex of the Kirk's sanctuary.
Services were held in the Undercroft beginning in 1952 and continued during the construction of the church until a disastrous fire destroyed most of the roof. During the 18 months following the fire, the congregation worshipped at the local high school.
The Reverend Dr. Leslie Bechtel (1948-1953) was the first minister and served the church for five years. The Reverend Dr. Harold C. DeWindt (1953-1971) succeeded him. Dr. DeWindt took on the tremendous task of not only ministering to his congregation, but also of supervising the construction and furnishing of the church. By this time the congregation had grown to 1,800 members. Exactly eleven years after it was organized, the Kirk held its first services in the sanctuary on November 23, 1958.
After the church was completed, the officers focused on building the Abbey for Christian education and the Refectory for fellowship. Work on these buildings was completed in 1965.
Dr. DeWindt died suddenly in 1971, and was succeeded by the Reverend Dr. James F. Anderson, who ministered from 1972 until his retirement in 1994. The Kirk's fourth senior pastor, the Reverend Dr. Norman M. Pritchard, arrived in January 1996, and shares the ministry with the Reverend Dr. Keith O. Provost and the Rev. Karen E. F. Carl. The Kirk's present membership is about 2,300.
For information about the Kirk's architecture, click here.
For tours of the Kirk, click here.
For a campus map of our buildings/grounds, click here.